Marc and I were even closer now it seemed since we got married. I still hadn’t had the guts to tell him the truth about Eva’s real Dad. I was waiting for the right moment, which just never seemed to come. We talked about having a second baby, and I didn’t want to ruin the mood. So I thought I’d wait until I was pregnant, then he would still be mad but surely not too mad, right?

Eva was growing up so quickly, she was so smart. She began walking and talking and was just about potty trained. If all kids were this easy I’d have 10! haha- but seriously we had discussed having a big family, maybe not quite that many but I don’t know 4-6? I guess it will all depend on how Marc takes the news when I finally get to tell him.
We hadn’t been trying long and I was already pregnant. I guess this is good news, I can finally tell him the truth, AND I know this one is definitely his! Now I just had to figure out the best way to go about it. I also wanted to talk to my sister, and in some ways I thought about telling her first. Then again if she took it badly would she hurt me? And what about the new unborn baby I was carrying? Maybe it would be best to wait after all.
The night I planned to talk to Marc he came home from work with big news. He had finally made it, he was officially a police man now! I decided to put it off again, at least for a short while. I didn’t want to take away from his big accomplishment. He spent half the night anyway glued to the TV watching cop shows. I ended up getting the hugest craving for pie! So I went to ask my Mom if she would mind making me one.
Of course she said yes and went straight to work on it. I loved my Mom’s key lime pies! They were just so yummy, you’d have to taste it yourself to understand just how good they were. I sat in the kitchen with her, watching, so that one day I too could hopefully make a pie just as delicious. We talked a bit about her and Hugh, and of course Eva and the new baby. I began to think maybe I could tell my Mom about Cyrus and then she could help me break the news to Marc and Danielle.

Mmmmm… it was pure heaven delivered on a fork! I only hoped I could make pie this good, seeing as my Mom won’t always be there to make it for me. For the few moments I was able to sit and enjoy my dessert I was able to forget my little “problem”. It’s very true when they say ignorance is bliss, because if I had known what was about to happen I certainly would not have been enjoying myself half as much as I was.

That afternoon my Mom once again became a widow to her second husband. Hugh passed away at the ripe old age of 98! My Mom, who was only still in her 80’s, still had plenty of life left in her and I felt absolutely horrible that this had to happen again, so soon after the wedding in fact! We all had just barely been married a full year, and were all still very much in what most people consider the “honeymoon” phase of our marriages.

Mom was heartbroken of course, but hid it well from the rest of us. She spent a lot more time with little Eva, not only because I was pregnant again and VERY tired, but too I think to distract her from what had happened. Mom wasn’t sure what to do with Hughs remains, whether to put him in the family cemetery or not, so for the time being his ashes were kept at our house.

It was when strange things began to take place at night in the house that we all told Mom she was going to have to make a decision on what to do with Hugh! His ghost was terrifying Daylan to the point he couldn’t sleep in his own room and ended up sleeping on the floor in the nursery with Eva. He insisted it was more to protect her that because he was really scared though, and none of us ever pushed it any further.

My second pregnancy was passing even faster than the first. Marc devoted whatever time he had from his busy work and training schedules to pamper me and the baby. He’d talk to my belly, telling him or her all the things he was going to do for them once they were born and giving me back massages whenever I was hurting. He was such a great husband, and it made me feel even worse about what I had done. I kept waiting for my opportunity to tell him, and just could not bring myself to do it.

As I approached the last couple months bending and doing everyday things became more and more of a chore. I was certainly growing anxious for d-day to get here. I was hoping to have a boy this time so we could have one of each. Of course we weren’t even close to being done having children, but it would be nice to have the score even for the time being!

The day, or night I guess, arrived a week early and I was very grateful it was on one of Marcs nights off. When we got to the hospital a feeling of deja vu came over me. It didn’t seem that long ago that Eva was born and now I was having another baby! I could not wait to finally find out what we were having!

A few hours later we were waiting for a taxi to come pick us and the new baby up! It was another girl, little miss Ellie Groves born at 3:49pm. Marc hailed the first cab he saw and off we went to the house. Mom and Daylan had heard the news and had the new crib already waiting for us when we got home.

The next afternoon I called my sister to come see the new baby. I had planned to drop the bomb on her and Marc together when she arrived, but again timing just wasn’t on my side. Guess who was pregnant? Well not me, I didn’t have the chance to do that yet. Yup, Danielle and Cyrus were preparing to have their first child. Of course I couldn’t give my pregnant emotional sister that kind of news. I would wait until after the baby was born.

So instead we sat around and played video games for the afternoon. It was so much fun and felt just like old times. I felt like we were kids again without the tension I felt before, which I’m pretty sure my sister is completely unaware of, at least for the moment. Yes, I realize it may seem like I putting this off, but I will tell everyone! Eventually…..